Lyft outstrips Uber thanks to Donald Trump

01/31/2017

Internet campaign #deleteUber, which unfolded over the weekend, has yielded its first fruits. Mobile taxi service Uber began to actively lose customers, and for the first time its rival company Lyft outstripped Uber by number of downloads of its iPhone mobile app users. Such a sharp change in preferences of American consumers is associated with the fact that they suspected the most popular taxi service in relations with administration of President Trump.

Stephen Kelly Photography

Although mobile taxi service Uber has long been subject to regular criticism of regulators in different countries, it always remained one of the most popular operators. Now, however, the company has got in a serious trouble. Last weekend, Internet user launched #deleteUber campaign calling for public to the app. Along came calls to use services of Uber’s competitor Lyft. Many users supported both campaigns, which resulted in Lyft’s first-time ever prevalence over Uber by number of downloads of its mobile application in the App Store.

Users’ indignation has been provoked by two points. First, Uber’s CEO Travis Kalanick is a member of US President’s advisory board for business. The second fact is connected to the first: Uber allegedly tried to break a strike of union of taxi drivers in New York. Last Saturday, they protested at the airport John F. Kennedy against Donald Trump's decree to introduce entry ban on refugees and immigrants from several countries of the world. Protesters were outraged by the fact that Uber not only kept serving customers during the protest, but also lowered the rates at this time. Uber’s management made an apology and tried to explain their actions by a desire to help people get to the airport or leave it at normal prices. Public, however, perceived this unambiguously negative even despite the fact that Uber, along with other technology companies, a few days ago officially condemned the presidential decree on the limitation of entry for refugees and immigrants. The fact that Lyft’s taxi drivers also worked at the New York airport during the protest did not cause public outrage, because they did not lower prices for customer service.

Analytics shows that on Sunday users downloaded Lyft application much more often than Uber. According to App Annie company, Lyft has become the most popular among free apps downloaded in the App Store. Mobile Action says this popularity continued into Monday. As reported by Apple itself, on Monday Lyft stood in fourth place in popularity among downloaded applications, still being ahead of Uber. For Lyft, which is not comparable to Uber’s cost (Lyft is estimated at $ 5 billion, while Uber is worth $ 70 billion), these moments is now an opportune moment: the company plans a massive expansion of the US business this year. Interestingly, Lyft, just like Uber, condemned Donald Trump’s decree on refugees and immigrants, but also promised to donate $ 1 million to the American Civil Liberties Union, which the public also took into account.